Afternoon:
10°c
Wenger is losing his fight to keep Toure
James Olley6 Jan 2009
Arsenal are close to admitting defeat in their attempts to keep Kolo Toure but will only sell the defender if they are able to sign a replacement this month.
West Ham centre-back Matthew Upson is understood to top the Gunners list and although the Hammers insist the 29-year-old will not leave, Gunners manager Arsene Wenger is thought to be pondering a move for his former player if Toure insists his future lies away from north London.
Wenger believed he had talked the Ivory Coast international into staying after he handed in a transfer request last month, but Standard Sport understands Toure has become disillusioned after appearing to fall behind Johan Djourou and Mikael Silvestre in the pecking order at the heart of Arsenal's defence.
Manchester City are set to test Arsenal's resolve with a fresh bid in the region of £10million for the 27-year-old, who is thought to have fallen out with fellow centre-half William Gallas in recent months.
Wenger had vowed Toure would not leave Arsenal this month but the Frenchman has historically been reluctant to stand in a player's way should they express a persistent desire to leave. There has been some good news for Arsenal, though, as teenage starlet Jack Wilshere has signed a three-year contract with the Gunners after turning 17 and becoming eligible for a professional contract.
The attacking midfielder is a product of the club's Academy system and Wenger has high hopes for the player, who made his first-team debut in the Champions League defeat in Porto last month.
The manager said: "We are delighted Jack has signed. He is a player with great potential, with an ability to find the final ball and also score goals. Jack is a passionate and committed young player. He is not afraid of tackles and I am convinced he will have tremendous penetrative power in a few years. We look forward to Jack being an important part of our first team for years to come."
Meanwhile, captain Cesc Fabregas has targeted a potential FA Cup semi-final if Arsenal reach the latter stages of the competition.
The Spaniard is expected to be out for around four months after suffering medial knee ligament damage in last month's 1-1 draw with Liverpool.
And the 21-year-old said: "The FA Cup is the first and only trophy that I have won here, so I really hope that when I come back we can be ready to play in a semi-final and then walk out at Wembley on 30 May.
"But we will have to work hard and not take anything for granted if we want to get there.
"The FA Cup is a very prestigious tournament, one that everybody here wants to win and that's what we will be trying to do.
"As far as I am concerned, we're always giving everything in this competition for ourselves, for fans and the club.
"Maybe we took our eye off it a bit last year because we were in the semi-finals of the Carling Cup as well as everything else so we had a lot of options, but we are fighting strongly on other fronts this time around too and I'm sure we won't have the same outcome."
Reader views (14)
I hope Arsene Wenger can take the concerns of the Arsenal fans as important.This business of strugling to remain among the top four should not be as important as winning the English premier league trophy this season.Is wenger poised towards selling all the good players at Arsenal? Kolo Toure is a player not worth selling this summer for God's sake. Please, Arsener Wenger, rethink! and please, add experienced players into the 2009/2010 squard for better results otherwise we will again be headed to fighting with the likes of Mancity and Aston villa for the 4th position other than fighting for the trophy.
- Augustine Kezzy, Lira,Uganda, 28/07/2009 13:59
Report abuse
Toure = £10mill to Man City, Traore = £3mill to Middlesborough. Add £12mill of our own money and we have £25mill to buy a top central defender...Hangeland and a classy attacking midfielder Kranjcar! Not rocket science really. £12.5mill bids for both and we will be ok, especially as Walcott, Rosicky & Eduardo are all due to return in Feb/March. Hangeland and Kranjcar are also both eligable for Champions league and have Premiership experience, plus they are 24 & 27 yrs old respectively. Nasri, Kranjcar, Walcott, Rosicky as your attacking midfielders isn't a bad choice. Gallas, Hangeland, Djourou, Silvestre, Song as your center backs!
- Newmy, Milton Keynes, 07/01/2009 14:10
Report abuse
how can u say wenger made a mistake letting ljungberg go he lost form stoped scoring and was always injured,henry watch him at barcelona he is not the same player still good not great arsenal legeng though,kanu sopped scoring,sol campbell well went insane the only 1 wrong was pires cos he was still amazing
- Steven, manchester england, 06/01/2009 18:54
Report abuse
Toure has never been same player since he played alongsine gallas to similar we need big commanding centre half to play with either kolo or gallas i was hoping it would toure sadly it looks like gallas will be the one stayin.Just hope his head has not been turned by money man city are willing to pay, step down joining a team in relegation battle from team in top four .
- Martin, edinburgh scotland, 06/01/2009 18:45
Report abuse
kolo has been great but is not as good as once was thats the main reason why wenger feels the time is to go good luck toure but 15mill aint bad for a player nearly 30!
- Paul Connolly, herts, 06/01/2009 17:51
Report abuse
Kolo will leave. I love Arsenal but I am gradually loosing respect for Wenger. He seems to believe that he can turn anyone into quality and this belief has led him to let players leave when they have alot to give.
Pires, Lymburg, Kanu, Campbell and even Henry left way before they should have because Wenger thought they could be easily replaced.
Now we see the lack of depth and the fact that players like Toure, who have had success are unwilling to take bit part roles in a sinking ship. If Arsenal had reaslistic chances of winning the premier league or the Champions league, quality players like Kolo would be willing to stay and fight for their place but no great player is willing to sit on the bench on a hopelessly managed team.
I think Kolo has alot to give and he should leave ASAP.
- Zac, NY, NY, 06/01/2009 16:54
Report abuse
WHO CARES
- G .Geaham, LONDOPN ENGLAND, 06/01/2009 16:36
Report abuse
Toure is a legend and we love him but he aint the same player anymore. If he wants to leave, let him go and bring in Upson in his place.
- Clive, London, 06/01/2009 15:12
Report abuse
I'll be amazed and horrified if Kolo leaves, he's an Arsenal legend, an invncible for goodness sake. Wenger should do all he can to convince him to stay, he's having a poor time of it at the moment but aren't most of the squad. Give him time and let him come back and show us what a great player he is...and hopefully persuade his brother to join him.
- Kerry, London, 06/01/2009 14:34
Report abuse
Toure is the last of the invincables it would be a sad day for all us gooners if does leave he came to us as an attacking midfielder and AW turned him into one of the best centre backs now Gallas has had a few good games for us many performances have been either below par or very ordinary but Toure has had 100's of excellent games i have lost count of the times his positional sense speed and pure quality have saved us so AW KEEP TOURE Djoure and Sylvestre should play along side of him and not Gallas send him back to France lets get rid of the moaner we dont need sulks earning 100k a week we need winners and a player like Toure who loves our club
- Old Gooner, Penang Malaysia, 06/01/2009 14:26
Report abuse
Toure, you could do a Sol and join Spurs!
That would really get up alot of Arsenal supporters noses!
- Adrian, london, 06/01/2009 13:43
Report abuse
I think he wants to play alongside his brother at last!! Lets hope we have the cover after his departure.
I also think Gallas is definitely worth keeping!!!
- Anthony, North London. UK, 06/01/2009 12:59
Report abuse
Toure obviously wants to go to a bigger club who have a chance of winning titles in the coming seasons.
- Terry, London, 06/01/2009 11:09
Report abuse
I have always felt that Toure & Gallas are too similar in style & both need to play alongside a taller commanding centre half. Hence, I have no problem if Arsenal sell Toure, who has not looked the same player since returning from last years African nations cup. I assume Gallas is staying, he appears to be back to somewhere near his best form & with the emergence of Djourou we have a good center half combination. We now have the accomplished Sylvestre as back up, all we need now is another tall commanding center back as cover.
- Rob Gooner, North London, 06/01/2009 10:30
Report abuse
